Blogger Indonesia of the Week: 15 – 17

When I was a kid my dad and my only big brother (I’ve plenty of little brothers, though) more than once urged me to read any autobiography of the “big personalities” of national as well as international calibre. I did what they want even I didn’t know then why I should do so. But I finally found out the answer when I read a good article in a newspaper (magazine?) during my teenage years. The article said that when you read an autobiography of a big guy, you not only read his achievement, his hyper-spirit, his hyper-energetic and never-tired movement; but more than that you’ll see the humane side of the person: that he’s just like us–the raw and ‘uncooked’ kids, that he’s sometimes feels tired and dizzy, feeling un-confident at times, feeling disperate in difficult situation, etc.

By knowing all those things also exist in them (the big guys)we finally will have the sense that we can make it just like they do! And from the marketing point of view, that’s the secret why autobiography of big personalities always sell like MC-burger.

And whenever I visit Hermawan Kertajaya’s Blog I have the feeling of reading an autobigoraphy or, to be precise, humane side of him. Before I further my study in India, I was a regular reader of his pieces scattered in many Indonesian media. He’s a weekly contributor for Jawa Pos daily and GATRA magazine; writing a column on marketing, positioning and branding are his niche. His language is so smooth and easy-to-catch, and that’s why I like reading his piece despite marketing is not my field of interest.

He’s also founder of MarkPlus & Co, a leading consultant services on marketing. A friend of mine who once attended his presentation was so amazed as thousands of audiences came to hear his U$100-a-seat speech…

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Despite his name “smells” like a javanese name, but everybody knows that he belongs to a chinese minority community. Yet, unlike majority of them who are so hard to smile, he’s an ever-smiling person. You’ll hardly find his face on the pictures without it. And after I regularly visit his blog, I come to know his background as a former teacher might contribute to his “javanese”-like behaviour.

As I said earlier, reading his blog is like reading an on-going autobiography of a big guy who made and is still making his mark on national as well as international level. You’ll be very stupid if you miss reading his autobiography, err… i mean, his blog for free. Read it now, before it costs you $100 per-visit!

Finally, I just want to say, Welcome aboard the blogger world Pak Hermawan Kertajaya, your presence is very encouraging. When the king of marketing and branding starts blogging, everybody knows what does blogging mean…

Blogger Indonesia of the Week (16): Agustinus Wibowo

The Young Indonesian Traveler

On June this year, I called for Indonesian bloggers to start blogging in English especially if the content has a face value in terms of culture, social, and other personal experiences that can be shared with foreign readers. This kind of content is rich in values and can be very beneficial, especially for those who are interested to see any Indonesian events commentary from ‘the Indonesian street’ or grass-root level. At least it can reduce the burden of foreign analyst or journalist on Indonesia or add it up to the information they’ve already got.

After several months of crawling in between my hectic activities of research and doing several projects, I found some Indonesian bloggers who make a very good reporting and analysis on trip, traveling and current events. Unfortunately, all in Bahasa Indonesia which are virtually inaccessible to many foreign analyst. Finally, I got one young traveller who travel extensively and blogging his journey almost on daily basis and in English. His name’s Agustinus Wibowo…

There’s something interesting in his introduction about himself: his pride to be Indonesian:

“My name is Agustinus Wibowo, 24 years old male from Indonesia, and proudly holding the green passport of Republic of Indonesia.”

Well, it’s rare to see and hear a young Indonesian who feels proud to have a green pasport of Indonesia, instead of a Green Card of USA…And as can be expected from a good traveler, he learns many things from his extensive journey: various cultures, faiths, customs and traditions from different countrires and different people and nations.For which he aptly said:

Traveling has changed my life completely, from a useless bookworm to a hardcore traveler. Traveling makes me learn how to respect different cultures, different people, and to learn that our world is not as beautiful as we are dreaming. There are far too much things to discover and contemplate, and our world is both beautiful and ugly, happy and sad, colorful and plain. A traveler blog is very important, interesting and enjoyable to read because of many reasons: (1) it has the credibilty as a first-hand-from-the-ground news; (2) when we read it, it sounds like we are reading an on-going live coverage of life itself, as though we ourselves who experience the same thing a traveler is or has been facing; (3) it has a historical-reporting values.As for the third point, do you know Ibn Batuta (Battuta, Batutta), the great fourteenth century Arab traveler who made a very extensive journey long before Columbus since his 21st birth-day from Morocco to China, from the steppes of China to the shores of Tanzania, some seventy-five thousand miles in all?

Ibn Batuta’s blog, I mean his book, entitled RIHLA IBN BATUTA or the Travel of Ibn Batuta has been translated into many world languages by renowned thinkers and historians and reviewed by many eminent scholars around the world as well as become the historical reference of any events during his life time by many researchers.

I hope, Agustinus Wibowo if he continues his spirit to travel further and further, will be our own Ibn Batuta of 21st century. Considering his energetic movements and his open-minded personalities as well as his never-give-up attitude (I met him yesterday in Indonesia Embassy New Delhi), I believe my hope will not be in vain. Let’s pray for him as to make his tenacity and persevereness intact until he reaches a point where he feels that the mission is accomplished and starts compiling his scattered notes on his blog get published in a form of a good book.

Blogger Indonesia of the Week (17): Wimar Witoelar

When the monetary crises and the students power has led to the fall of the Indonesian strongest dictator General (retd.) Suharto–who ruled Indonesia for 32-odd years–Indonesia for the first time during my life-time became the poster boy of contemporary world media for a good reason. it became the headlines everywhere. world major TV stations were covering it and anything about Indonesia live almost 24 hours for few days. During which all major TV stations like CNN and BBC competed each other to get the best possible personalities and experts to talk to and giving expertise commentary on Indonesia.

And who’re the best persons that could represent and talk about Indonesia other than Indonesians themselves? Who knows the most about Indonesians mind, culture, customs and faiths other than Indonesians themselves who live, eat, drink, talk and observe their faith and custom as Indonesians? Any foreigner can claim him/her-self as an expert on Indonesia. And they (the foreigners) can claim that they are the experts on Indonesia based on their 20-odd years stay in the country. yet, have you (Indonesians) ever seen their commentary without any bias? Never. See one by one the full list of foreign bloggers who talk a lot about Indonesia in the footer of this page (under “Non-Indonesian Blogger on Indonesia”) and you’ll find out that they talk for their own audiences; not for us – Indonesians. and therefore, you cannot and should not expect them to talk for you, my fellow Indonesians, to represent your voice to the world.Unfortunately, however, not many Indonesian experts can speak and write well in English. And that’s why on those historical days CNN and BBC interviewed many foreign political analysts who got expertise on Indonesia and talked to very few Indonesian political commentators. Among the few was Wimar Witoelar [pron: weemaar weetoolar]. His fluency in English both in writing and speaking made him very much in demand on those days. And I myself pretty much enjoyed the way he talked and gave interview to the foreign audiences which truly represent the realities and the truth on the ground; and highly understand what the Indonesian feel.He’s a popular figure in Indonesia. Having hosted a talk-show on an Indonesia TV channel called Perspektif. So, beside being an Indonesian, his interview with many Indonesian experts and politicians has made him very knowledgeable on Indonesia political as well as socio-cultural matters. We are very fortunate to have him stand out and being interviewed so many times by foreign media, print or audio-visual alike.

And it’s even more fortunate for us, the blogger community, that he’s turned his website into a blog, a step that gives us an opportunity to interact with him directly. In his blog, you can read various articles written by himself or others on Indonesia in English or Bahasa Indonesia.

Besides, he also put the transcript of his interview conducted by some foreign tv channels mostly Australia Channels. One of the interesting interviews conducted recently (Nov 2) is his interview with ABC Asia Pacific entitled “Where Australians Misunderstand Indonesia” which i think a must-read transcript for any bloggers – Indonesian or Australian alike.